Notes on the history of Communist China

Authors Avatar by snoopyd0gg (student)

Rise and rule of single party states

China, Cuba, Germany, Italy, Spain, USSR, Yugoslavia

Nation: China

Time period: 30s-60s

Origins (conditions which produce single-party states)

a. political

1.   History of warlord rule - warlords control administrative state

  • rule is arbitrary and capricious
  • political advance is based on patronage
  • safety and well-being dependent upon whims of leaders

2.   Imperialism

  • invaded by Western traders and military - do whatever they want, no unified Chinese will or power to restrain them –
  • local governors strike their own deals with foreigners - one last attempt by the Dowager empress to expel the foreigners in the Boxer rebellion fails - governors of the provinces refuse to participate - the foreign powers then converge on Peking
  • 1904 - Japanese move into Manchuria

  • civil war begins in 1911 vs. the empress
  • won by Yuan Shikai (Southern military lord) and Sun Yat-sen (foreign-educated political philosopher)
  • constitution, 2 house legislature set up
  • election held in 1913 - multiparty including those of ancient regime and former revolutionaries
  • only 4-6% of the population allowed to vote!
  • victory for KMT - controlled both houses of parliament - President was Yuan
  • huge problem was lack of funds for govt - central govt relied on loans from foreign govts, but had had control of port revenues and tariff taxes taken away by those same foreigners
  • Yuan becomes increasingly dictatorial - leads to attempt at impeachment
  • leads to a second revolution - lasts 3 months - rout of anti-Yuan forces - Yuan buys support of important provincial military governors
  • Sun goes into exile disillusioned
  • Yuan dissolves parliament and abolishes all district assemblies - attempts to use conservative reform to bring order - administrative centralization and bureaucratization
  • eventually calls for restoration of monarchy with himself as emperor
  • Sun attempts to stage uprisings in Shandong - fizzles out
  • Yuan abandons his scheme (under pressure from foreign powers) but provinces continued to declare their independence
  • Yuan dies in 1916, but leaves behind a powerless parliament and weak civilian govt
  • China would become plaything of succession of warlord factions
  • 1916-1928 - The Warlord period
  • after Yuan’s death parliament continued to exist but power was held by provincial warlords
  • these militarists exercised direct political power, retaining control over civil administration and imposing their own taxes to pay for their armies which were the sole basis of their power
  • the fiction of a civilian govt in Beijing was preserved by whichever warlord faction held control in the north-and it was important b/c the foreign powers paid the central govt a tax
  • the whole period 1912-1949 was one in which China as a national entity became progressively fragmented

Opposition to the warlords - the Kuomintang &Chinese Comm Party

  • the emergence of the CCP in 1921 and the re-org of the KMT between 1923-1926 into a highly organized and disciplined political and military force introduced radical new elements into the Chinese scene
  • Both parties set themselves the task of overcoming the twin evils of warlordism and imperialism, and it was on this basis that a policy of joint collaboration was implemented
  • Communists attempted to find support in the cities but were not widely successful - Comintern encouraged them to join with the KMT in an effort to nationalize and repel imperialism first
  • Sun had gone South and had also decided that it was necessary to repel foreigners - decides to cooperate with CCP - create a United Front
  • Russia supplied military advisers and financial assistance - military academy was established - commandant was Chiang Kai-shek - had close family connections to Sun
  • organize nationally in their own congress
  • with death of Sun, Chiang steps forward, but contested by Wang, head of civilian side
  • KMT and CCP membership expanded rapidly with increasing anti-imp feeling
  • key turning point,1925, when strikes were held in Shanghai, Guangzhou to protest closing of Chinese mill owned by Japanese - Jap troops fired on workers - led to economic standstill - British and Japanese consulates attacked
  • at this point Guangzhou regime declared itself the National govt and plans were made for the military unification of China - led by Chiang
  • 1926 Chiang decides to eliminate the communists
  • however, he backpedals when Stalin asks him to continue a united front with a promise of soviet assistance in eliminating the warlords
  • Chiang starts a united “Northern Expedition’ 1926
  • the National Revolutionary Army enlists considerable mass support - huge increases in membership
  • Mao learns from peasant uprisings that peasants are key to Chinese Communist revolution - defies Marxist-Leninist formula
  • the KMT takes over 5 provinces - Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Fujian - many militaries claim high positions
  • KMT s
  • very few warlords had the inclination or the time to concentrate on political reform
  • the Nationalists (Kuomintang) became predominant in the Middle Kingdom
  • the former ruling class and bureaucracy disappeared
  • ruled by KMT whose main power in the South - a govt of the wealthy and the military
  • 3 serious political enemies
Join now!
  1. warlords - hundreds of warlords, small and large, dominated the country
  • Chiang was able to attract some, but many lay outside his control
  1. Japan - Japanese tried to block Chiang’s attempts to unify
  • 31 - invade Manchuria
  1. communists
  • initially communistss joined KMT
  • but Chiang and most of KMT were conservative
  • communists put on the run
  • nationalists control stretches to the wall - but Manchuria under a puppet ruler beholden to Japan
  1. How did the Nationalist govt change under Chiang Kai Shek? Why?
  • was a general
  • expanded KMT power through China by military victory ...

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